pope benedict is due to resign on february 28th. apparently he spoke in latin this morning and announced this move. we don't yet know why. there have been a number of stories surrounding it. he is going to resign. the vatican spokesman has confirmed that in the last five minutes or so. february the 28th is going to be the date. now, i have just been doing some digging. the last time a pope resigned might have been way back in 1415. clearly, unprecedented in modern times and we'll have to wait and see what the reasons will be given. there is going to be a press conference at 11:30 g. so, in other words, 27 memberships from now there will be a press conference from the vatican to outline exactly what's going to happen and maybe the biggest question to be answered is why is the pope going to stand down? and if he does, how will they choose the replacement and in what types of time scale? interesting, of course, is the timing of this is before easter, but it's just a few days after the italian election webs which is very important for i